Sunday, January 16, 2011

Easy but Fabulous Paint Chip Wall Art

I had a wall in my kitchen that was just begging for some art. I first saw this idea on Mod Podge Rocks and fell in love with it. I saw a cute version on The Boatwright Family Blog too. This was originally inspired by this piece on the Ballard Designs Website. But who wants to pay almost $300 for something you can make for under $10?

My first stop was at Home Depot for some paint chips. I grabbed a stack of different colors (sorry, Home Depot) and brought them home. I then laid them out and removed some of the colors that didn't work.

I then measured the smaller side, and it measured 3.25 inches, so I got out my cutting mat and my exacto blade and cut the longer side down so it'd be a square. Then it was time to do some math. I knew that I wanted the final piece to be a square, so after doing some multiplication, figured out that my final piece would be 32.5 by 32.5 inches, so 10 squares by 10 squares. So I had hubby stop by Home Depot on the way home from work, and pick up a piece of 4x8 plywood for $8, and they cut it down to size, for free. I heart free. I also had him pick up some blue paint chips, since my neutral color pallet was looking a bit blah. I then painted all the edges of the board a dark brown.

So my next step was to lay out all of my squares, and figure out my pattern. Then I stacked them in order.

So after I stacked them, I laid out a handful of them on a tray covered with tin foil, brought them outside, sprayed them with 3M spray adhesive, brought them back inside, and laid them down and used a card to smooth them down. Then did that about 4 billion times until I was finished with the whole board.

Then, after those were done, I put mod podge on the board and brushed it out. I did three layers of mod podge. I like texture, so I made sure there were a lot of brush strokes in my layers.

I let those dry for a day, and then got out some wood stain. I used Minwax "Dark Walnut". I would put on a layer, take most of it off, let it dry, and then repeat. I did three layers of the stain.

Hubsters says I always look mad in pictures. I think I look like I'm concentrating.

If after you put on all the layers of stain, but there are just a couple of paint chips that are still too bright, you can just put the stain on those ones, let it sit, and then gently wipe it off.

Excuse the camera flash, it was the only way I could get the mod podge texture to show up. The stain would settle in the crevices, but I like that.

One of the things that hubby and I loved so much about the Ballard Designs piece was the gold sheen to it. So on the final coat of the mod podge that I put on top of everything, I added some shimmery gold craft paint in a ratio of one part gold paint to 4 parts mod podge, give or take.

So after you have your super amazing hubby hang it...

You are left with this!

You can see the gold sheen in this pic.

Hubby told me to "Vanna White" it.

*I stacked my paint chips in order from 1 to 100. But somewhere between stacking them, spraying them with glue, and laying them out, they got out of order. Luckily I was going for a random pattern, so it didn't matter anyway. But if you're going for a specific pattern, it'd be worth numbering them all. Don't press too hard, or you'll see the indentations on the front.
*Use a darker stain than you think you'll need. Since you're wiping most of it off, a lighter color isn't going to show at all. Always remember that it's easier to add than it is to remove.

Are you going to make one? I had the mod podge, stain, gold paint, and 3M glue already. So with the free paint chips (Thank you Home Depot), I paid $8 for the board. And I have a ton of wood left over, hubby wants me to make an all blue and gray one for the master bathroom. So this project cost me under $10.

If you make your own paint chip art, please link back and let me know so I can check it out. Happy Crafting!

I also saw this in the catalog and then saw that someone somewhere along the way had made their own but I love love love how yours turned out and the tutorial. I am thinking of maybe doing this treatment on a tray. I appreciated the glazing techniques and the number of coats you put on your piece. It seems silly but that info really helps. Thanks for sharing on BeColorful's Motivated Monday. I will be featuring this next week.Pam

Oh my gosh, me too! But there are 4 Home Depots around us, so we hit them all up and just took a few from each, instead of all from one. Made my conscience feel better, even though they are there for free :)

VERY COOL, there are the most fabulous paint chips at the store, I'm always collecting them, BUT never do anything with them. Thanks for showing us yet another example of HOW beautiful, almost free can be, I LOVE IT...

THANKS for supporting my blog, and linking up to **Amaze me August**, YAYYY, now make it a habit girl, I want to see you every time. LOL.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my paint chip art. I saw yours last night and absolutely love it. I may do one like yours either for above our fire place or in our master bedroom. I love how you antiqued it.

This looks great and your instructions and tips are so helpful! I have been thinking about making a blue and gray version for our master bedroom for a while now - I think this officially convinced me to do it! :)

Wow - this is such an awesome project!! I so have to do one for our house...I think I may randomly insert black/white or sepia pictures of our kids throughout too. Love, love, love this!!! Thanks for sharing!

This. is. ah. maze. ing. Seriously! I have been looking for something with simple steps that can still feel like a labor of love and I have a feeling this is it! I can't wait to grab some chips and get going. I am like you and have most of the supplies already! Thanks for the awesome inspiration and on a side note... what a beautiful family! I will definitely be back for more of your crafty wisdom.

I love you and your blog. And this particular post. There is a huge blank white wall in my livingroom that needs color and I can never decide what color it needs, but something like this would be perfect!

I'm trying this right now. We are going to do 4 different squares. One in each color shade of, red, blue, green and yellow. Got everything at Home Depot too. The hardest part is deciding where each paint chip should go!

Hello, I so love this and was wondering if you ever made the gray and blue one for your bedroom. I'm thinking of making one along those colors blues, whites,grays,maybe black, and might add accent color like yellow or something but would love to c ur gray and blues if you did that one. Thanks and have a wonderful weekend.Jolyn

I just saw your post at HoH and I am totally in love with this... I think this maybe what my wall is missing! Now to see if I can actually do this because me and crafty-ness do not usually go together!

I love yours!! I made one over the course of last week and not quite sure if I love it yet. :/ I think I may have added too much gold to the last coat of mod podge. Also, there are quite a few bubbles in my paint chips...did you experience that?

Love this! I've been searching for artwork to tie together with our couch pillows. It never occurred to me to make my own art. One (dumb) question, though...what is the reason for putting wood stain on it?

This is such a great idea, and such a great way to get EXACTLY the colors you want..I also love how adaptable this one project could be to any room and any size you want it to be. I've been looking for some decorative element for a mudroom I've had in progress for about six months, and now I'm at the fun part. The not so fun part is trying to find something perfect that costs nothing..this is awesome, thanks for posting this, I can NOT wait to do this!